ISTANBUL: A Turkish court on Friday sentenced two Syrians to four years in jail over the drowning of five people including toddler Aylan Kurdi, the image of whose dead body sparked global sympathy last September over the fate of migrants, Dogan news agency said.

Since Aylan’s death, the European Union has faced a growing crisis over how to deal with hundreds of thousands of migrants from Syria and elsewhere, a crisis that threatens to tear the 28-nation bloc apart.

EU Council President Donald Tusk was visiting Turkey on Friday to press for closer cooperation in dealing with the migrants ahead of an EU summit on Monday.

Praised for taking in some 2.5 million refugees from Syria’s five-year civil war, Turkey – a candidate for EU membership – is under pressure to stop migrants making perilous onward journeys to Europe.

The Turkish coastguard recovered the bodies from the wooden boat that had set off from the Turkish holiday resort town of Bodrum for the Greek island of Leros, the Dogan news agency reported.

The refugees drowned when they failed to get out of the boat’s cabin, the news agency said.

Another 20 migrants, who were on the boat’s deck, survived and swam back to the Turkish coast, it added. All were wearing life jackets.

The survivors were taken to a morgue in Bodrum to identify their drowned relatives.

There has been a sharp spike in the numbers of migrants and refugees setting out from Turkey in flimsy boats for the European Union in search of better lives.

Most are fleeing conflicts and misery in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa.

The picture of three-year-old Syrian refugee Aylan Kurdi, whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach after a failed attempt to reach Greece, horrified the world, pressuring European leaders to step up their response to the refugee crisis.

The 18-year-old Pakistani, who was shot by the Taliban for defiantly going to school, said she was so upset by abuses of girls at the hands of extremists in Syria and Iraq that she has stopped watching the news.

But she saw and remained haunted by the picture of Aylan Kurdi, the Syrian toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach in an image that became emblematic of the risky exodus of refugees seeking safety in Europe.

“We lost humanity on that day when… nowhere a child is welcomed,” she told reporters at the United Nations.

“It is important that people open their hearts and people open their lands to people who are now needing more support and who need the right to live,” she said.

Malala appealed to world leaders to imagine their own children suffering the abuses meted out by the Islamic State movement, which has sexually enslaved girls from minority groups.

“The first thing is that the world leaders need to take all these issues more seriously,” said Malala, who brought with her four girls including a Syrian refugee.

“They should think about their own children.”

Malala came to New York for the adoption of a new UN development agenda, which aims to end extreme poverty in 15 years.

She met on the sidelines with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has emerged as the leading European force in support of welcoming refugees.

The youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner explained her fund that supports girls’ education during the 15-minute meeting with Merkel, a German government source said.

Malala has not returned to Pakistan for three years amid concerns for her safety, instead studying in Birmingham, England.

She said she took two days off to come to the United Nations.

“I never miss a school day unless it’s for a good cause and it really brings change,” she said.

The heart-wrenching images of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi lying face down dead on a Turkish beach, was enough to rattle the world. European countries such as England, Germany and Turkey opened its doors to refugees on the run, from the conflict-torn Syria.

However, French satirical Charlie Hebdo, notorious for its crude and nefarious humour, came up with cartoons mocking the dead Aylan. The cartoons circulating on social media drew ire and protest from all parts of the world, as they made light of the refugee situation.

In their cartoon, Aylan Kurdi was depicted lying flat on his face near the ocean and above his head were the words written, “So close to his goal”. In the background a McDonald’s-style Happy Meal Board states: “Two children’s menus for the price of one.”

The cartoon has once again caused an outrage and debate over Charlie Hebdo’s insensitive comments, under the garb of freedom of speech. The core of Charlie Hebdo’s staff were murdered in January when a gunman stormed its offices, igniting three days of bloodshed around Paris that left 17 victims dead. The attack had taken place after the magazine had printed blasphemous images of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), resulting in outrage and protests across numerous Islamic countries.

Three-year old Aylan Kurdi had drowned along with his mother and brother when their boat had capsized on its way from the Greek Island of Kos to the Turkish town of Bodrum. The family was forced to flee when ISIS had advanced into their hometown of Kobane and brought with them conflict and destruction. Here are a couple of outraged Tweets:-

The sculpture measuring a few metres (yards) in length depicts three-year-old Aylan Kurdi in the same position and with red and blue clothing like he wore when his lifeless body was found last week.

Aylan’s body was photographed lying face down in the sand near Bodrum, one of Turkey’s prime tourist resorts, in a bleak image that rapidly went viral on social media.

The sand sculpture is located a short distance from where an Israeli strike killed four Gazan children as they played football during last year’s 50-day Gaza war.

“When I saw this statue representing Aylan Kurdi, the child drowned while fleeing Syria, I felt a deep sadness and great emotion,” said resident Arwa Arbijan.

“It reminded me of the children of the Bakr family who were killed on the Gaza beach during the last war,” she told AFP.

Last year on July 16, cousins Ahed Atef Bakr and Zakaria Ahed Bakr, both aged 10, nine-year-old Mohamed Ramez Bakr and 11-year-old Ismail Mohamed Bakr were playing on the beach in Gaza City when they were hit in two separate Israeli air strikes.

At the other end of the Mediterranean, dozens of people paid tribute to Aylan on a Rabat beach on Monday by re-enacting the heart-wrenching scene of how his body was found washed ashore.

Around 30 people took part, some wearing the same combination of clothes, and lay rooted face-down in the sand for about 20 minutes.

“As an artist, my duty is to react and to come here with my colleagues to say that a small gesture can be worth a lot,” said Moroccan actress Latifa Ahrar, one of the organisers.

“We are here to say that the Mediterranean should remain a space for sharing and exchanges, not a barrier for those who are victims of dictatorships, civil wars and terrorism,” said journalist Rachid el-Belghiti.